A HUGE explosion blew off the roof and walls of Japan’s quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and people nearby were warned to stay indoors amid reports of a radiation leak and possible meltdown.
The explosion highlighted the scale of the disaster facing Japan following Friday’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake and 33-feet (10-meter) tsunami that devastated the country’s northeastern coast.
Dramatic TV footage showed the blast ripping through the aging coastal facility, sending plumes of smoke billowing high into the air.
“We are now trying to analyze what is behind the explosion,” said government spokesman Yukio Edano, warning that people nearby should quickly evacuate. “We ask everyone to take action to secure safety,” he said.
Edano confirmed that there had been a radiation leak at the plant, and broadcaster NHK said the evacuation radius around the plant was doubled to 12 miles (20 kilometers).
UPDATE 11.45pm: A NUCLEAR power plant exploded, a day after the huge Japanese earthquake damaged the facility’s cooling system.
Nuclear authorities had earlier warned that the Fukushima No.1 plant, about 250km northeast of Tokyo, an urban area of 30 million people, “may be experiencing a nuclear meltdown“.
The plant’s cooling system was damaged in the quake that hit on Friday, leaving the government scrambling to fix the problem and evacuate more than 45,000 residents within a 10km radius.
The operator of a stricken nuclear plant, TEPCO, believed a reactor container was not damaged despite a large explosion at the plant, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary said.
Japan’s government says the metal container sheltering a nuclear reactor was not affected by an explosion that destroyed the building it’s in.
Pressure and heat have been building at the nuclear reactor since an earthquake and tsunami on Friday caused its cooling system to fail.
An explosion on Saturday blew out the walls of the building housing the reactor. The government has ordered people within a 20km radius of the plant in Fukushima to evacuate the area.
Mr Edano added that radiation levels near the Fukushima plant had fallen after the blast, amid fears of a possible nuclear meltdown following a devastating earthquake and tsunami on Friday.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that a blast had been heard at about 5.30pm (Melbourne time) and showed delayed footage of the explosion and smoke billowing from the site, also reporting that the reactor building had been destroyed.
TV channels warned nearby residents to stay indoors, turn off airconditioners and not to drink tap water. People going outside were also told to avoid exposing their skin and to cover their faces with masks and wet towels.
Meanwhile thousands are feared dead as Japan continues to reel from Friday’s horror earthquake and tsunami.
There are concerns for the safety of at least 160 Australians in the worst-hit areas of Japan.
The powerful quake that unleashed a devastating tsunami appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 2.4m and shifted the Earth on its axis, earthquake experts say.
Emergency crews began searching for survivors of the 8.9 magnitude “megaquake” and subsequent tsunami that washed away entire villages, cars and bridges, set oil refineries on fire and had several nuclear power plants on alert on the Pacific coast.
Rescuers continued to dig through rubble and pluck survivors of the quake – 8000 times stronger than the one that crippled Christchurch last month – from the roofs of submerged houses.
There were fears for the safety of Australians living near the epicentre of the quake at Sendai, 405km north of Tokyo, a popular area for Aussies working as English-language teachers and translators.
The regions of Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima, Ibraki and Aomori were worst affected. Police in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, said 300 bodies had been found on the shore.
SENDAI, Japan (AP) — Huge earthquakes rocked northeastern Japan on Saturday, a day after a giant temblor set off a powerful tsunami that killed hundreds of people, turned the coast into a swampy wasteland and left two nuclear reactors dangerously close to meltdown.
The United States Geological Survey said a strong earthquake struck just before noon in the sea in virtually the same place where the magnitude 8.9 quake on Friday unleashed one of the greatest disasters Japan has witnessed — a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami that washed far inland over fields and smashed towns.
Saturday’s magnitude 6.8 quake was followed by a series of temblors originating from the same area, the USGS said. It was not immediately known whether the new quakes caused any more damage. All were part of the more than 125 aftershocks since Friday’s massive quake, the strongest to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s.
CRESCENT CITY, Calif.(AP) — Waves surged along California’s coast from a tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake in Japan.
The tide began rising shortly after 7:30 a.m. along beaches in Crescent City, where the tsunami was expected to hit the hardest in California. Officials predicted that waves could reach as high as 7 feet.
Tsunami waves hit Ore. coast after sweeping Hawaii
Waves hit the deserted Waikiki shoreline in Honolulu, Hawaii. The first waves to hit Hawaii from a tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake off Japan washed up onshore at Waikiki on Friday, with no initial reports of any damage. (Lucy Pemoni, Getty Images/AFP)
By JAYMES SONG and MARK NIESSE, Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — Tsunami waves swamped Hawaii beaches and brushed the U.S. western coast Friday but didn’t immediately cause major damage after devastating Japan and sparking evacuations throughout the Pacific.
Kauai was the first of the Hawaiian islands hit by the tsunami, which was caused by an earthquake in Japan, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Water rushed ashore in Honolulu, covering the beach in Waikiki and surging over a break wall in the world-famous resort but stopping short of the area’s high-rise hotels.
Waves about 7 feet high were recorded on Maui, and 3 feet in Oahu and Kauai. Officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger, and a scientist at the tsunami warning center said there was likely some damage to mooring facilities and piers.
“We called this right. This evacuation was necessary,” said geophysicist Gerard Fryer in Hawaii. “There’s absolutely no question, this was the right thing to do.”
Fryer said high water reached Port Orford, Ore., around 11:30 a.m. PST Friday. Evacuations were ordered and beaches closed all along the coast, and fishermen in Crescent City, Calif., fired up their crab boats and left the harbor to ride out an expected swell. A tsunami in 1964 killed 11 people in Crescent City.
In Hawaii, roadways and beaches were empty as the tsunami struck. As sirens sounded throughout the night, most residents cleared out from the coasts and low-lying areas.
“I’m waiting to see if I’ll be working and if I can get to work,” said Sabrina Skiles, who spent the night at her husband’s office in downtown Kahului in Maui. Their home, across the street from the beach, was in a mandatory evacuation zone. “They’re saying the worst is over right now but we keep hearing reports saying ‘don’t go anywhere. You don’t want to go too soon.”‘
Local officials activated tsunami warning sirens along the coast and have urged residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground. At Santa Cruz, some surfers ventured out on the water to take advantage of decent waves ahead of the tidal wave — and stayed in the water until the level plunged when the tsunami hit and caused several surges.
Elsewhere, emergency officials closed some beaches and advised people to stay away from the shoreline.
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